MOMENT registry: Patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer harboring exon 14 skipping treated with systemic therapy.

exon 14 ex14) skipping occurs in 3-4% of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. Low frequency of this alteration necessitated open-label, single-arm trials to investigate MET inhibitors. Since broad MET biomarker testing was only recently introduced in many countries, there is a lack of historical real-world data from patients with ex14 skipping NSCLC receiving conventional therapies.

Rationale and Design of the Australasian Registry of Screening ECGs in National Athletes Project.

Background: Cardiac screening of elite athletes is widely recommended by Australasian sporting federations, but data are not structured to be shared. Data are lacking from underrepresented groups to inform ECG interpretation guidelines. The ARENA (Australasian Registry of Screening ECGs in National Athletes) project is a retrospective and prospective, multicenter, longitudinal, observational registry of athlete cardiac screening results and outcomes.

Efficacy and safety of bintrafusp alfa in 2 phase I expansion cohorts with advanced HCC.

Background And Aims: Simultaneous inhibition of the TGF-β and programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 pathways provides a potential novel treatment approach. Bintrafusp alfa, a first-in-class bifunctional fusion protein composed of the extracellular domain of TGF-βRII (a TGF-β "trap") fused to a human IgG1 monoclonal antibody blocking programmed cell death 1 ligand 1, was evaluated in patients with advanced HCC.

Approach And Results: In this global, open-label, phase I study (NCT02517398), patients with programmed cell death 1 ligand 1-unselected HCC who failed or were intolerant to ≥1 line of sorafenib received bintrafusp alfa 1200 mg every 2 weeks in a dose-escalation (n = 38) or dose-expansion (n = 68) cohort until confirmed progression, unacceptable toxicity, or trial withdrawal.

Bintrafusp Alfa With CCRT Followed by Bintrafusp Alfa Versus Placebo With CCRT Followed by Durvalumab in Patients With Unresectable Stage III NSCLC: A Phase 2 Randomized Study.

Introduction: Preclinical evaluation of bintrafusp alfa (BA) combined with radiotherapy revealed greater antitumor effects than BA or radiotherapy alone. In a phase 1 study, BA exhibited encouraging clinical activity in patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC who had received previous treatment.

Methods: This multicenter, double-blind, controlled phase 2 study (NCT03840902) evaluated the safety and efficacy of BA with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT) followed by BA (BA group) versus placebo with cCRT followed by durvalumab (durvalumab group) in patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC.

Reinsuring pandemics: the role of government and public-private partnerships between reinsurers and governments.

Pandemic-related business interruption (BI) losses are generally considered 'uninsurable' because, in order to pool sufficient premium revenue to meet valid claims, premiums would be unaffordable for the majority of policyholders. This paper explores whether and how such losses might be made insurable in the U.K.

Telemedicine to Timor-Leste: implementing an international cardiac telehealth service during population dislocation, floods and COVID-19.

Background: The East Timor Hearts Fund has provided cardiac services in Timor-Leste since 2010, conducting three clinics yearly.

Aim: To develop collaborative telehealth services between Australia and Timor-Leste in the context of international border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Scoping discussions identified major challenges (structural, patient related and medical system related).

Comparison of tumor assessments using RECIST 1.1 and irRECIST, and association with overall survival.

Background: Patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) may experience pseudoprogression, which can be classified as progressive disease (PD) by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) V.1.1 and could lead to inappropriate treatment discontinuation.

A case report of isolated right ventricular lymphocytic myocarditis.

Background: Lymphocytic myocarditis is an uncommon condition with a variety of clinical presentations. Isolated involvement of the right ventricle (RV) is very rare. We present a case of a young woman who developed right ventricular dysfunction and arrhythmias as a consequence of this condition, which appeared to be chronic at diagnosis.

Adult and Paediatric Cardiac Intervention in Timor-Leste: Disease Burden, Demographics and Clinical Outcomes.

Background: The East Timor Hearts Fund (ETHF) is a charitable organisation of Australian cardiologists providing outreach screening in Timor-Leste. For patients requiring intervention, ETHF arranges logistics, procedures, and postoperative care. The aim of this project is to evaluate outcomes of patients requiring intervention.

Taking the pulse of Timor-Leste's cardiac needs: a 10-year descriptive time-trend analysis.

Background: Timor-Leste is one of the poorest countries in the world. The East Timor Hearts Fund is a charitable organisation involving Australian cardiologists providing outreach screening and access to cardiac interventions.

Aims: To assess ten years of clinical volume, demographics and patient outcomes.

Efficacy and Tolerability of First-Line Cetuximab Plus Leucovorin, Fluorouracil, and Oxaliplatin (FOLFOX-4) Versus FOLFOX-4 in Patients With Wild-Type Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: The Open-Label, Randomized, Phase III TAILOR Trial.

Purpose: Cetuximab in combination with chemotherapy is a standard-of-care first-line treatment regimen for patients with wild-type (wt) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC); however, the efficacy of cetuximab plus leucovorin, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) has never before been proven in a controlled and randomized phase III trial. To our knowledge, the TAILOR trial ( ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01228734) is the first randomized, multicenter, phase III study of the addition of cetuximab to first-line FOLFOX prospectively choosing a wt population and thus providing confirmative data for the efficacy and safety of cetuximab plus FOLFOX versus FOLFOX alone.

FOLFOX4 with cetuximab vs. UFOX with cetuximab as first-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer: The randomized phase II FUTURE study.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of FOLFOX4, comprising infusional 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin (LV) and oxaliplatin, with cetuximab compared with UFOX, comprising UFT, an oral prodrug of 5-FU, LV, and oxaliplatin, with cetuximab as first-line treatment for mCRC.

Patients And Methods: Patients, unselected by tumor KRAS status, were randomized 1:1 to FOLFOX4 with cetuximab or UFOX with cetuximab. Treatment was continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Marked reduction of effective radiation dose in patients undergoing CT coronary angiography using prospective ECG gating.

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) is a rapidly evolving technology which can characterise and image sub clinical atherosclerotic plaque and visualise anatomy and quantitate stenosis. Concern about radiation exposure has limited the uptake of this technology. The aim of this study was to review the radiation dose data in 2298 consecutive patients referred to a single centre in an Australian outpatient setting over 27 months using all available radiation dose reduction strategies.

Prediction of local recurrence, distant metastases, and death after breast-conserving therapy in early-stage invasive breast cancer using a five-biomarker panel.

Purpose: To determine the clinical utility of intrinsic molecular phenotype after breast-conserving therapy (BCT) with lumpectomy and whole-breast irradiation with or without a cavity boost.

Patients And Methods: Four hundred ninety-eight patients with invasive breast cancer were enrolled into a randomized trial of BCT with or without a tumor bed radiation boost. Tumors were classified by intrinsic molecular phenotype as luminal A or B, HER-2, basal-like, or unclassified using a five-biomarker panel: estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER-2, CK5/6, and epidermal growth factor receptor.

Mutant p53 and cyclin A1 protein expression in primary laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas do not correlate to second primary tumours of the head and neck.

Background: Field cancerization is a feature of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. No biological marker in the index tumour has been correlated to the development of second primary tumours (SPT). Cyclin A1 is a cell cycle regulator and a downstream target of p53.

HSD17B4 overexpression, an independent biomarker of poor patient outcome in prostate cancer.

Steroid hormones and their metabolising enzymes have been studied extensively for their potential role in prostate cancer, with more recent interest in the androgen/estrogen inactivating enzyme 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 4 (HSD17B4). Gene expression profiling showed HSD17B4 to be significantly overexpressed in prostate cancer compared to matched-benign epithelium. We therefore hypothesized that altered HSD17B4 expression may contribute to prostate cancer progression via altered hormone balance.

An unusual precipitant of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy.

A 76-year-old woman presents with acute pulmonary oedema and cardiogenic shock 10h after elective electrical cardioversion for atrial fibrillation. Her echocardiogram shows new wall motion abnormalities with akinesis of the apical and mid segments of the left ventricle and her resting ECG contains deep T wave inversion and QTc prolongation. Angiography reveals non-occlusive coronary artery disease.

c-Myc overexpression and endocrine resistance in breast cancer.

The oncoprotein c-Myc is frequently overexpressed in breast cancer and ectopic expression in breast cancer cell lines attenuates responses to antiestrogen treatment. Here, we review preliminary data aimed at further elucidating a potential role for c-Myc in clinical endocrine resistance in breast cancer. Immunohistochemical and semi-quantitative PCR revealed that c-Myc protein and c-myc mRNA were frequently overexpressed in both ER-positive and ER-negative breast carcinoma.

Zinc-alpha2-glycoprotein expression as a predictor of metastatic prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy.

The risk of metastatic progression for prostate cancer patients who undergo radical prostatectomy is best estimated presently based on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time (PSADT). However, additional markers of risk are needed to identify patients who may benefit from aggressive salvage treatment. A decrease in zinc-alpha2-glycoprotein (AZGP1) mRNA levels in malignant prostate epithelium was previously shown to predict biochemical recurrence, as defined by rising levels of serum PSA after radical prostatectomy.

Variants in the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) gene and prostate cancer risk, survival, and circulating PSA.

An A to G substitution, rs925013, in the promoter of the prostate-specific antigen gene (PSA) was recently found to be associated with promoter activity and circulating PSA levels. The objective of this study was to test the associations between rs925013 and another A to G substitution, rs266882, in the PSA gene with prostate cancer risk using a population-based case-control study of 821 prostate cancer cases and 734 controls carried out in Perth and Melbourne, Australia. The study focused on young (i.

Genetic variants in the vitamin D receptor gene and prostate cancer risk.

Vitamin D receptor (VDR), a member of the steroid/thyroid hormone nuclear receptor family, is bound by the steroid hormone 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, which is thought to play a role in the etiology and progression of prostate cancer. Polymorphisms in the VDR gene have been associated with prostate cancer risk, although findings are inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to determine if VDR polymorphisms were associated with prostate cancer risk using a large, Australian population-based study of 812 cases and 713 controls frequency-matched by age.

The E211 G>A androgen receptor polymorphism is associated with a decreased risk of metastatic prostate cancer and androgenetic alopecia.

The androgen receptor (AR) gene encodes a transcription factor, which mediates androgen action in target tissues, including the prostate. Prostate cancer is androgen dependent, implicating AR in susceptibility to this male condition. Male pattern balding, androgenetic alopecia, has recently been associated with prostate cancer, suggesting shared androgen pathways.

The propeptide mediates formation of stromal stores of PROMIC-1: role in determining prostate cancer outcome.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a reservoir of cellular binding proteins and growth factors that are critical for normal cell behavior, and aberrations in the ECM invariably accompany malignancies such as prostate cancer. Carcinomas commonly overexpress macrophage inhibitory cytokine 1 (MIC-1), a proapoptotic and antitumorigenic transforming growth factor-beta superfamily cytokine. Here we show that MIC-1 is often secreted in an unprocessed propeptide containing form.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: significantly enhanced response with docetaxel.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of neoadjuvant (NA) docetaxel (DOC) with anthracycline-based therapy and determine the efficacy of NA DOC in patients with breast cancer initially failing to respond to anthracycline-based NA chemotherapy (CT).

Patients And Methods: Patients with large or locally advanced breast cancer received four pulses of cyclophosphamide 1,000 mg/m(2), doxorubicin 50 mg/m(2), vincristine 1.5 mg/m(2), and prednisolone 40 mg (4 x CVAP) for 5 days.